Implementing ecopedagogy in highly centralised curricula contexts: a critical analysis of an environmental education course taught at one Tanzanian university

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ecopedagogy has become central in transforming environmental pedagogies. Nevertheless, its full potential has not been realised especially in developing countries. This study investigated the extent to which a course taught in one university in Tanzania reflects the tenets of ecopedagogy. Based on seven-years experience in teaching the course, analysis of the course curriculum and on lessons from recent efforts to teach the course using ecopedagogy, I find the course more consistent with ecopedagogy in the aspects focusing on indigenous knowledge, learning from different perspectives and democratisation of learning. However, the course is less consistent with ecopedagogy in the aspects of critical analysis of environmental discourses and globalisation. Moreover, I report on the contradictions arising from teaching using a highly centralised curriculum, on one hand, and using approaches that emphasise on critical co-construction of knowledge on the other hand. Finally, the implications for theory and practice are discussed.